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Confidence among consumers plunged in August to its lowest in more than two years following the country's loss of its top credit rating and heart-wrenching drops in major stock indexes.

Star bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach was in discussions to leave Trust Company of the West and succeed Bill Gross at Pacific Investment Management in 2009, according to court testimony.

Hurricane Irene closed in on the east coast on Friday, lashing North Carolina with ferocious winds and triggering emergency steps including unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns in New York.

The eastern United States ramped up its alert on Friday ahead of Hurricane Irene and New York City ordered evacuations of vulnerable residents as the broad, menacing storm closed in on the Atlantic coast.

South Africa's rand advanced to a one-week high against the dollar, breaking through resistance at 7.15, supported by a rise in U.S. stocks.

You've got to put your money somewhere, right? Under the mattress doesn't really work as a retirement program. It's lumpy, vulnerable to theft and your kids might find it.

Over the past three weeks, investors have been rushing into short-term Treasury exchange-traded funds to shield themselves from the roller coaster equity markets.

European stocks are slated for another fall on Friday after Asian stocks slumped on growing fears the U.S. economy was sliding into recession and as some European lenders faced short-term funding strains, raising fears of a systemic banking crisis on the continent.

Asian stocks extended losses Friday, with South Korea's benchmark shedding 5 percent on growing fears the U.S. economy was sliding into recession and as some European lenders faced short-term funding strains, raising fears of a systemic banking crisis on the continent.

We must not lose sight that Treasury yields have been artificially lowered by the massive buying program of the Federal Reserve associated with QE2.

Three months ago, with the Federal Reserve nearing the end of its second major stimulus program and inflation pressures on the rise, Albert Edwards' bond market view stood out from the crowd.

This week investors should focus on the performance of European sovereign debt markets.

Standard & Poor's lowered its long-term debt rating for the U.S. to AA+, while Moody?s and Fitch maintained their ratings.

An economic slowdown and debt market turmoil mean the European Central Bank will probably hit 'pause' on its interest rate raising cycle for several months and may even signal on Thursday a readiness to buy bonds again.

Not for the first time, asset managers may be playing a high-risk game as they face the threat of a U.S. debt default without concrete contingency plans.

Not for the first time, asset managers may be playing a high-risk game as they face the threat of a U.S. debt default without concrete contingency plans.

Wall Street banks are reported to post poor second quarter results this week, accounting for nearly a 20 percent drop in sales and trading revenues and prompting another round of layoffs, according to the New York Times.

Fears are spiraling that Italy may need a bailout as the yield on the country’s government bonds have surged to 5.4 percent.

Since June 15, there has been a significant rise in Treasury yields. Below we present several reasons for the spike and why we think that interest rates will continue to move higher.

Wall Street investors are a bit more pessimistic than they should be despite a host of negative factors such as a weak U.S. economy and high energy costs, Goldman Sachs strategist Abby Joseph Cohen said.

Yesterday, a highly valued client of ours posed this question to us: ”Do you think that we are headed towards a depression?” It is not clear to me what event triggered the question, but my answer was a resounding “No”.